Defense urges jury to spare life of man who drowned children; prosecutors asking for death sentence

Naim Rasool Muhammad drowned his children because he feared they would grow up just like he did, his attorney said Wednesday.

Muhammad, 34, was found guilty of capital murder Wednesday by a Dallas County jury and prosecutors are now seeking a death sentence for a “horror unimaginable” — murdering his sons Elijah, 3, and Naim, 5. Muhammad’s attorneys never disputed his guilt and are now trying to convince the jury to spare his life.

Defense attorney Paul Johnson told jurors that Muhammad grew up in a life of “abandonment” and “neglect.” His mother was a crack-addicted prostitute. He didn’t know who is father was.

In Muhammad’s “deranged mind,” he believed his boys would suffer a similar fate, Johnson told jurors. The boys’ mother, Kametra Sampson, had sought treatment for cocaine addiction in the months before the boys’ deaths and, Johnson said, had left her kids alone and was prostitute.

At times in Muhammad’s childhood, Johnson said, no one can say to this day where Muhammad was or who was caring for him.

“His life history is not a photo album you open up,” Johnson said.

Naim Muhammad

Johnson acknowledged that while the August 2011 deaths of the boys are a “heartbreaking” and “horrendous crime,” it didn’t mean Muhammad should be sentenced to death.

Prosecutors Tammy Kemp and Sherre Sweet said Muhammad deserved the death penalty for drowning his sons in a smelly Glenn Heights creek and because he is a continuing danger to society. They said has had a 20-year criminal record that stretches back to when he was a juvenile.

Much of that criminal background involves stealing coins from a machine, evading arrest, breaking into a home and stealing candy, burglary of a vehicle and another burglary incident where candy was taken.

He also has a history of domestic violence, including assaulting his sister and Sampson.

Kemp said that while Muhammad and Sampson dated, he beat her after she did things such as burning rice. He controlled where she went and for how long. He let her have two female friends — his sisters.

“He had complete control of Kametra Sampson,” Kemp said. They started dating when she was 15 and he was 25 and hid their relationship. They went on to have three children together. The youngest was not quite 1 when Naim and Elijah were killed. The baby was not harmed.

In December 2010, Sampson took her boys and left Muhammad. Prosecutors say she began using cocaine and sought treatment at a facility where she could live with her boys. She completed treatment and was living with her mother and waiting on an apartment when the boys were killed.

The control Muhammad tried to exert over Sampson culminated on the day Muhammad killed the boys. He abducted them and Sampson as they walked to school. She was able to escape and seek help from a county constable. Muhammad drowned the boys as police searched for them.

Kemp said Muhammad killed Elijah and Naim to get back at their Sampson. He was angry that she ended their relationship and was dating someone else.

Kemp reminded jurors how Muhammad led the boys down the creek and then walked away and thought about what to do. Muhammad then took the boys down to creek and told them to pretend like they were swimming. He held the kids’ heads under water until they stopped moving.

Kemp told jurors that the punishment phase of the trial was their time to think about what to do to Muhammad.

“You gotta take him back down to the creek” and give Muhammad the death penalty, she said.

Johnson said that jurors needed to consider what made Muhammad the man who sits before them in a courtroom. Johnson told jurors that he will present evidence that Muhammad had been failed by the schools, “the system” and his family.

If jurors don’t give Muhammad a death sentence, he will be sentenced to life without parole.

“He will pay with his life,” Johnson said to jurors. “Either in the penitentiary or on a gurney.”

Follow Jennifer Emily on Twitter @dallascourts.

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